Hilary Hahn

“Hahn and Hauschka’s music has an organic mechanical motion, emerging out of a world that could have been created by Jules Verne or H.G. Wells. There’s a strutting roboticism, but all parts are made woody, wrinkled, leathery, walnut-crinkled and creaking like old bones.” Martin Longley, bbc.co.uk, 5th July 2012

“a series of fascinating improvisations... Particularly effective are "North Atlantic", with its rhapsodic violin over a poignant two-note piano figure, and the 12-minute "Godot", an eerily melancholy alliance of hypnotic industrial pulse and keening solitude.” The Independent, 23rd June 2012 ***

“Worlds meet symbolically and literally in this dazzling place. Hahn and Hauschka improvised these 12 tracks on the spot in response. Much is eerily beautiful, making use of ethereal multi-trackings and wispy violin overtones...Not lyrical listening, but haunting, quirky and like nothing else.” The Times, 23rd June 2012 ****

“When a star such as Hilary Hahn takes on the Ives violin-and-piano sonatas it has to be special...she and Lisitsa, accurately balanced, are completely efficient in every way. They understand the Ives idiom saturated with hymn-tunes; they swing with the best of them; and their performances are as convincing as anything on offer.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2011

“it’s a joy to hear her playing these Ives pieces, solidly partnered by the Ukraine-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa. As she did with Schoenberg, Hahn goes out of her way to spotlight the music’s lyrical throb, driving forward urgently, sometimes at speed, always sweetening the melodic tangles with her agile bowing and tightly controlled vibrato.” The Times, 2nd December 2011 ***

“The Third Sonata (1914) is the highlight here...It can have no finer advocate than Hahn, who invests the brief central scherzo with a drive that galvanizes its rhythmic intricacy, while bringing slow-burning intensity to those subtle 'verse and refrain' contrasts of the first movement and eloquence to the 'variations in search of a theme' finale.” International Record Review, February 2012

“Now there’s no need to cower behind the sofa. Higdon’s no ogre like Schoenberg...She's an audience-friendly composer who almost writes tunes and orchestrates with great finesse...Yet there’s nothing lightweight about the piece’s technical demands...Ever dextrous, rhythmically alert, unwavering in pitch, Hahn survives them with ease.” The Times, 7th January 2011 ***

“[Hahn] plays [the Higdon] with such astonishing ease and assurance that its coruscatingly brilliant writing, especially during the whistle-stop 'Fly Forward' finale, appears to float effortlessly off the fingerboard...For sheer poise and control there are few recordings [of the Tchaikovsky] to match this.” Classic FM Magazine, March 2011 ****

“The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic rises to the demands of Higdon's writing with ease...[Hahn's] reading is technically and musically completely assured...Hahn's account of the Tchaikovsky is a distinctly classical version, presenting the work uncut and without any of its traditional embellishments, privileging the work's 'pure' structure over heart-on-sleeve histrionics.” International Record Review, March 2011

“Following [the first-movement theme's] transformations is easy, thanks to Higdon's exquisite ear for orchestral balance and the supremely violinistic solo part, played with consummate conviction and accuracy by Hahn...In both works Vasily Petrenko and the RLPO stick to Hahn like glue, a fact brilliantly revealed by the close, detailed recording.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 ****

“Tailor-made for Hilary Hahn's cool, brilliant sound, Jennifer Higdon's 2008 Violin Concerto has the swagger of an established favourite...There's a strong Russian influence in the artless piccolo solo of the first movement and big-boned lyricism in the second. This is a vivid, well-crafted work, and Hahn is outstanding in Higdon's quasi-Baroque laser-cut figurations.” The Independent on Sunday, 20th February 2011

“Hilary Hahn's Tchaikovsky is no warhorse. Her tone remains unforced even in the most strenuous passages...Hahn's more subtle way with Tchaikovsky's melodies gives them a different kind of life, more integrated into the flow of the music...The performance of the [Higdon] concerto is splendid - confident and refined.” Gramophone Magazine, April 2011

“…there's plenty to admire in Hahn's warm, expressive if occasionally over-mannered playing… Schäfer and Matthias Goerne, a few discomforts aside, yield nothing to Hahn in beauty of tone…” BBC Music Magazine, February 2010 ***

“Hilary Hahn...reveals herself as a Bach interpreter of surprising substance.” Financial Times, 8th January 2010 ***

“An album of intriguing novelty, grace and subtlety.” The Independent, 8th January 2010 ****

“There is something touchingly old-fashioned about this attractive collection of Bach arias that feature the violin, and it has clearly been a labour of love for young violinist Hilary Hahn to draw together friends and colleagues for the project.” The Observer, 3rd January 2010

“The result is a delight. Whether the violin plays a simple accompanying role or interweaves with the vocal line on equal terms, Hahn is wonderfully lithe and responsive, and the singers unaffectedly direct.” The Telegraph, 5th February 2010 ****

“[Hahn's] prancing rhythmic inflections, golden yellow tones and avoidance of the fussily decorative bring delight in every one of the 12 tracks.” The Times, 15th January 2010 ****

“The Schoenberg is simply astonishing. Hahn and Esa-Pekka Salonen shows how much beauty and brilliance there is in this work.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2008 *****

“Hilary Hahn's performance of Schoenberg's Concerto is magnificent recording. When the last chord sounds its full stop, the sense of satisfied finality is exhilarating. Hahn has the full of measure of the piece, its gawky lyricism, ethereal filigree and cripplingly difficult cadenzas (awkward chords galore), all rendered seemingly effortless.
Wisps of old-world Vienna echo from the Andante, whereas in a performance of this calibre the finale's complex acrobatics suddenly have musical meaning.
Of course having a first-rate orchestra and conductor helps: Esa-Pekka Salonen's direction is in the very best sense of the term 'slick', a perfect example of musical badinage, alert, crystal-clear and superbly recorded. Which makes the CD mandatory listening both for lovers of the work who crave an appreciative performance and for doubters who still await conversion.
The Sibelius performance is fascinating but less wholly convincing although as with the Schoenberg Hahn weaves a seductive, evenly deployed tone and her technique is impeccable. But while in the Schoenberg you sense a palpable level of emotional engagement Hahn's approach to Sibelius is cool, sphinx-like one might say, the first movement's many solo passages broadly drawn but somehow remote. No violinist currently performing makes a lovelier sound and although time and again one notes some illuminating phrase (not to mention Salonen's immaculately groomed accompaniment) the sum effect is of a strangely cold beauty. But the Schoenberg performance is magnificent.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Where Heifetz warily trod, Hahn strides to a triumphant performance ... The Schoenberg performance is, as I say, magnificent. ” Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“Spellbinding...there is mastery in every silken phrase, every poised lyrical phrase...an object lesson in beautiful violin playing.” Chicago Tribune